Tuesday, December 04, 2012

Rectifying The Electoral Districts: No Injunction For You

You don't know until you try...or until a panel of Supreme Court justices turns you down.

A team of lawyers from the Citizens Rally for the Realization of One Person/One Vote (Hitori ippyo jitsugen kokumin kaigi) filed a request with the Supreme Court for a preliminary injunction against the holding of the House of Representatives election. On Friday (November 30) a panel of five Supreme Court justices ruled against the issuance of such an injunction.

The lawyers group had argued that since the Court recognized the ability of plaintiffs to file a people's suit (minshu sosho) and recognized suits requesting the invalidation of elections after the fact, it should have the capacity to issue an injunction against public officials holding an election potentially injurious to members of the public.

The court panel disagreed, finding that no regulations existed for the Court's issuing a preliminary injunction against the holding of an election.

The request was a stretch for One Person/One Vote, which suffered a rare loss in its campaign to rectify the electoral district maps. The request was merely a foretaste of the blizzard of lawsuits the group intends to file post-election.

While the lawyers' group is disappointed in the Court's throwing the issue to the Diet to solve, at least the Court did not rule on standing. If regulations on issuing injunctions against elections existed (not that there is much chance that the Diet will pass legislation opening that door) then plaintiffs ostensibly still have the right to file suit without first proving specific injury.